8.  The applicant was born in 1943 and lives in Częstochowa.
9.  By a decision of 3 April 1979 the property of the applicant’s predecessors in title was expropriated. The property comprised a plot of land located in Częstochowa, at 30 Wieluńska Street (plot No. 30). A house located on this plot was later demolished.
10.  On 20 October 1987 the Częstochowa Municipal Architect issued a permit, authorising J.M., the owner of a furniture repair workshop leasing premises situated on an adjacent plot (No. 28), to modernise the premises by, inter alia, fitting windows and a door in the boundary wall between the former property of the applicant’s predecessors in title and plot No. 28. On an unspecified later date J.M. opened a furniture shop on plot No. 28.
11.  By a decision of the Częstochowa Municipal Council of 6 March 1990 the property situated at 30 Wieluńska Street in Częstochowa was returned to the applicant as the aim of the expropriation – the construction of an apartment building – had not been realised.
12.  On 10 January 1992 the applicant requested the Częstochowa Governor to declare the decision of 20 October 1987 null and void.
13.  On 28 July 1992 the Częstochowa Governor declared null and void the 1987 decision. The M. Company, owned by J.M., leasing plot No. 28, lodged an appeal with the Minister of Town and Country Planning. On 9 November 1992 the Minister upheld the contested decision. The M. Company lodged an appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court.
14.  On 3 March 1994 the Supreme Administrative Court annulled the decisions of 28 July and 9 November 1992 whereby the M. Company leasing plot No. 28 had been ordered to block doors and windows in a wall facing the applicant’s plot and adjacent to the boundary of the plot.
15.  On 14 June 1994 the Częstochowa Governor refused the applicant’s request to have the 1987 decision declared partly null and void. On 18 August 1994 this decision was upheld by the Minister of Town and Country Planning. Apparently on 5 October 1994 the applicant lodged an appeal against this decision.
16.  On 1 April 1996 the Supreme Administrative Court quashed the decisions by which the administration refused to declare null and void the 1987 decision in so far as it authorised the fitting of a door and windows in the boundary wall between the plots. The court considered that the issue needed to be reconsidered, with special attention being paid to the question whether the building on plot No. 28 had been constructed on the basis of a building permit or, in the alternative, in the absence of any legal basis.
17.  On 10 August 1996 the applicant was informed by the Częstochowa Regional Office that an administrative enquiry had been instituted in order to establish whether the building on plot No. 28 had been constructed lawfully. On 22 August 1996 he was further informed that the proceedings would not be terminated before 26 August 1996.
18.  On 29 October 1996 the Częstochowa Regional Office refused to declare null and void the 1987 decision concerning the adjacent parcel No. 28. The applicant lodged an appeal with the Chief Inspector of Construction Supervision.
19.  On 19 February 1997 the Chief Inspector of Construction Supervision quashed the 1987 decision concerning parcel No. 28 in its entirety, considering that the fitting of windows and a door in the wall adjacent to the applicant’s parcel No. 30 was unlawful in that it rendered it impossible for the applicant to use his plot.
20.  By a letter of 27 March 1997 of the Częstochowa Municipal Office the applicant and other parties to the proceedings were informed that the case concerning the 1987 decision could not be dealt with within the time-limit provided for by Article 35 of the Code of Administrative Procedure. A new time-limit was fixed. According to the new time-limit, the case was to be disposed of by 5 May 1997.
21.  On 18 April 1997 the M. Company appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court against the decision of 19 February 1997.
22.  In a letter of 14 May 1997 the applicant was informed by the Supreme Administrative Court, in reply to his complaint that the appeal against the decision of 19 February 1997 had not yet been decided, that, in view of the Court’s case-load, there was a delay of approximately eighteen months for cases to be heard and judgment given.
23.  On 10 April 1997, J.U., one of the co-owners of parcel No. 30, which was also co-owned by the applicant, sold her share of the property to a third party.
24.  On 19 May 1997 the applicant submitted a complaint about the inactivity of the administration to the Chief Inspector of Construction Supervision. On 9 July 1997 the Częstochowa Regional Office informed the applicant that his complaint about the inactivity of the administration in the proceedings concerning parcel No. 28 could not be dealt with within the one-month time-limit provided for by law. On 28 July 1997 the Częstochowa Regional Office informed the applicant that the complaint was unfounded.
25.  On 2 July 1999 the Supreme Administrative Court quashed the decision of the Chief Inspector of Construction Supervision of 19 February 1997, considering that the lower authorities had failed to establish whether the supervision of the Principal Inspector of Conservation of Cultural Heritage should apply to the area within which parcel No. 28 was situated.
26.  On 14 January 2000 the applicant sold his share in parcel No. 30 to third parties.
27.  On 14 February 2000 the Chief Inspector of Construction Supervision quashed the decision of 29 October 1996 and ordered that the case be re-examined by the organ of the first-instance. The applicant appealed. On 20 June 2000 the applicant lodged his pleadings with the court, complaining, inter alia, that the proceedings had lasted an unreasonably long time. The protracted nature of the proceedings had forced the applicant to sell this property. He had no other choice as the property was losing value as a result of the length of the proceedings. His property rights had been flagrantly breached in the proceedings in which the authorities have shown a manifest disregard of his legitimate interests.
28.  On 25 January 2002 the Supreme Administrative Court quashed the decision of 14 February 2000 rendered by the Chief Inspector of Construction Supervision, considering that there was no need to remit the case to the first-instance body, especially in view of the excessive length of proceedings.
29.  On 13 January 2003 the Chief Inspector of Construction Supervision quashed the decision of 29 October 1996 and declared the 1987 decision entirely null and void, considering that the latter had been rendered in flagrant breach of the substantive provisions of construction law.
30.  On 10 January 1992 the applicant requested the Częstochowa Municipal Department of Architecture and Land Development to grant him planning permission for the construction of an apartment house on his plot (No. 30).
31.  On 12 February 1992 the Department granted the applicant preliminary planning permission (wskazania lokalizacyjne).
32.  In a letter of 11 April 1992 directed to the Częstochowa Municipal Department of Architecture and Land Development the applicant’s neighbour, leasing the plot at 28 Wieluńska Street, protested against the preliminary building permission given to the applicant. In reply dated 23 April 1992 the Department informed him that his objections were unfounded, and that plot No. 28 had to be used in a manner consistent with the applicant’s property rights to plot No. 30. It was further stated that the preliminary permission given to the applicant was consonant with the general vision of land development in the part of the town concerned, which was of a historical character and was to be preserved and enhanced. Similar arguments were set out in a letter of 19 June 1992, apparently in reply to further complaints made by the applicant’s neighbour.
33.  On 23 December 1992 the applicant requested that he should be given a building permit and submitted relevant technical documents in support of his request.
34.  On 18 January 1993 the Director of the Częstochowa District Office stayed the proceedings concerning the applicant’s request for the grant of final building permit, pending the final decision in the proceedings for a declaration of nullity of the 1987 decision. The applicant appealed to the Częstochowa Governor. The contested decision was upheld by the Governor on 1 March 1993. The applicant lodged a further appeal with the Supreme Administrative Court.
35.  On 16 November 1993 the Supreme Administrative Court allowed the applicant’s appeal and quashed the contested decision relating to the stay of the proceedings. The court pointed out, firstly, that the proceedings concerning the status of the 1987 decision had in fact been terminated by a final decision and, secondly, that there was nothing in the character of these proceedings, which essentially concerned the fitting of doors and windows in the boundary wall between plots Nos. 28 and 30, which would make it impossible to proceed in the case concerning the applicant’s request for the grant of final building permit.
36.  On 19 January 1994 the Częstochowa District Office requested the applicant to submit the documentation confirming his legal title to plot No. 30.
37.  By a decision of 21 February 1994 the Częstochowa Municipal Department of Architecture, Town Planning and Construction Supervision refused to grant final building permit to the applicant. That Department considered that the applicant had failed to submit documents in order to show that his proposed development complied with the local land development plans. The Department further stated that no final decision had as yet been given on the issue concerning the fitting of a door and windows in the boundary wall between the applicant’s plot and plot No. 28.
38.  On 15 April 1994 the Częstochowa Regional Office dismissed the applicant’s appeal against the decision of 21 February 1994.
39.  On 6 June 1995 the Supreme Administrative Court quashed the refusals of 21 February 1994 and 15 April 1994 to give the applicant building permission. The Administrative Court observed that if the applicant had indeed failed to submit the required documentation, he should have been invited to supplement his motion in order to comply with formal requirements. The Supreme Administrative Court further noted that the administrative organs had failed themselves to collect all the evidence which was necessary for issuing the relevant decision.
40.  On 31 August 1995 the Częstochowa District Office requested the applicant to submit the documents confirming his legal title to his plot and the notary consent of the co-owners to construct a building on it. The applicant was informed that if he did not submit the requested documentation his application for a building permit would not be examined.
41.  On 18 September 1995 the District Department of Architecture, Town Planning and Construction Supervision requested the applicant to submit a decision concerning the development plan for the plot concerned, which, according to the provisions of the new Construction Act of 7 July 1994, was a prerequisite for a further examination of the applicant’s request for the grant of building permit. He was also requested to submit amendments to the original building project so as to take into account the presence of windows and a door on the boundary between the plots.
42.  The proceedings did not progress until on 10 April 1997 and on 14 January 2000 respectively, J.U. and the applicant sold their shares in parcel No.30 to third parties.